WASHINGTON — A promised path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants in the United States
illegally might leave out hundreds of thousands of them.

Bipartisan Senate legislation would make legalization and ultimately citizenship available
only to those who arrived in the United States before Dec. 31, 2011, according to a Senate aide
with knowledge of the proposals. Anyone who came after that date would be subject to
deportation.

The bill, expected to be introduced next week, also would require applicants to document that
they were in the country before the cutoff date, have a clean criminal record and have enough
employment or financial stability that they’re likely to stay off welfare, said the aide, who spoke
on condition of anonymity because the proposals had not been made public.

Although illegal immigration to the United States has been dropping, tens of thousands of people
still arrive annually, so the cutoff date alone could exclude a large number of people. The aide
said hundreds of thousands could be excluded overall. That came as a disappointment to
immigrant-rights groups that had been hoping that anyone here as of the date of enactment of the
bill could be able to become eligible for citizenship.

“The goal is to deal with the 11 million folks who are here without status, and the wider road
that we can create for them to get on that path that they can ultimately get residency and
citizenship, the better,” Angela Kelley, vice president for immigration policy at the liberal
Center for American Progress, said yesterday. “A cutoff date that lops off all of 2012 and whatever
part of 2013, that’s going to be at least a couple hundred thousand people. It’s not ideal.”

But Republicans in an eight-member negotiating group have sought strict criteria on legal
enforcement and border security as the price for their support for a path to citizenship, which
still is opposed by some as amnesty. The aide said that Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who’s working to
sell the plan to the right, pushed Democrats in the group for an even-earlier cutoff date, while
the Democrats proposed Jan. 1, 2013. The date negotiators settled on was a compromise but also an
outcome Rubio can tout to conservatives.

Rubio’s chief of staff, Cesar Conda, took to Twitter this week to describe the bill as tough on
illegal immigration.

“Freezes illegal population. No special pathway. No amnesty,” Conda wrote. “Registration for
provisional status will not be open-ended and there will be a physical presence requirement barring
recent arrivals.”

Rubio is to appear on all five network and cable TV talk shows on Sunday — as well as Univision
and Telemundo — to discuss the legislation. Negotiators are aiming to introduce the bill on
Tuesday. Details on the criminal-record requirement still were being finalized, but anyone with a
felony conviction likely would be ineligible, the aide said.

It’s impossible to know exactly how many immigrants have arrived illegally in the United States
since Dec. 31, 2011. Such statistics aren’t collected, but one study found that about 384,000
immigrants entered illegally in 2009.

Despite their concerns over the cutoff date, immigration advocates emphasized that they intend
to evaluate the bill in totality and still expect to find much to like. Kelley and others also
pointed out that the last time the United States enacted a major legalization program — with
legislation signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986 that legalized close to 3 million people — it
included a cutoff date of four years prior to enactment.

Advocates also will be looking to see how much will be charged to immigrants here illegally in
fees and fines before they can become citizens and what other requirements are imposed, such as
English proficiency.

The legislation would put millions here illegally on a 13-year path to citizenship, while
toughening border-security requirements, mandating that employers check the legal status of workers
and allowing tens of thousands of high- and low-skilled workers into the U.S. with new visa
programs.

Farm accord reached

U.S. growers, the United Farm Workers union and key senators agreed in principle on immigration
reform for farm laborers, a grower coalition said yesterday, assuring the issue will be part of the
comprehensive immigration bill to be unveiled next week.The agreement calls for creation of a new
guest-worker program to replace the current H-2A program and legal status for farm workers who
entered the United States illegally.